I solved my NOVEMBER 9 Mystery - Colleen Hoover's most unhinged book yet? 

Thanks again to Incogni for sponsoring! The first 100 people to use code AMANDA at incogni.com/amanda will get 60% off! I still have a headache from the mental gymnastics this book tries to pull

Colleen Hoover definitely seems like a person who wouldn't look up what fourth degree burns are before giving them to the main character of her book.

"I dont want to be your first, Fallon. I want to be your last." That sounds like a death threat....

I hate this book. I thought it was coded horror. He literally ruined her whole life, and she apologizes to him? WTF!

If it's popular on booktok, it's automatically a red flag for me. Also, fourth degree burns literally reach the bone so she'd have far more than scars.

So, Ben basically ruins Fallon's entire life and acting career, keeps her in the dark for ages, and violates a restraining order, yet she's goaded into forgiving HIM, for no discernible reason?!

Someone told me they believe colleen hoover is in the wrong genre and should actually be a horror novelist and I can see that.

Every time I see a CoHo book being horrendous I remember that her son assaulted a girl and when the girl told her, Colleen blocked her.

Fourth degree burns literally affect your muscle tissues, tendons, and nerves. I haven't read this but I would assume that her burns are not THAT debilitating

Never say "the WORST" because there's always the next thing that could make it look like a Care Bears novel.

Actually, the real WORST one is a book “Maybe Not”. The male protagonist of that book is a violent rapist who has no redeeming quality what so ever. At least Ben in Nov 9 has some little guilt for his actions. The bar is in hell here.

"HE PUT HIS SCARS ON DISPLAY FOR YOU." "Mom, he set me on fire."

The issue with CH books isn't even the content, it's the fact that the conversation about the behaviors being unhealthy doesn't exist in the framework of the books. It would be FINE if there was even a SINGLE page at the beginning acknowledging that it's a work of fantasy which shouldn't be aspirational. But the positive conversations around the books show absolutely NONE of that self awareness (especially since they were popularized on tiktok which is too short for any nuance)

I feel like Colleen has never spoken to a burn victim in her life. Or a doctor for that matter, or anyone who’s been in the medical field, bc 4th degree burns would’ve gone to Fallon’s bones, and scars would be the least of her problems

"A genuine misunderstanding of how humans work." - This should be quoted on the cover of every one of Colleen's books.

Call me old fashioned, but having "consensual" relations with someone under false pretenses (like concealing the fact that you are the one who set their house on fire and disfigured them) is still a form of SA in my book. like sure maybe you dont wanna just tell someone that but like stay away from them maybe if you arent honest about it

I literally laugh/snorted when Amanda went and bought the book just to throw it. The little "Neh!" killed me.

As someone who has some who has very deforming scars due to lifesaving surgery as an infant, if someone told me I don’t have the right to feel negative emotions about them I’d want to deck them. I’m lucky that mine are on my abdomen so they’re easy to hide, but I literally had my internal organs in the wrong place when I was born and they were re-arranged so it’s not just a massive, ugly scar across my whole abdomen, my abdomen is lumpy in multiple places due to my organs being in the wrong place. It means my waist doesn’t go in as much on one side as the other as well. I had a killer body as a teenager and would never wear a bikini because of it even though I really wanted to. It is ugly and even after partial corrective plastic surgery it’s still bad and the lumpiness is permanent and has nothing to do with weight. It might be less obvious if I were heavier, but I think even then it would be noticeable in anything too clingy. I’m grateful to the doctors who saved my life, because my situation was extremely serious and I had to be resuscitated twice. I have lifelong health issues as a result. But no, I have the right to want to hide my weird lumpy scarred abdomen if I want to. Piss off, Colleen. Ironically I used to be an actor when I was a child/teen and it was never an issue. Costuming would find a way around it on the rare occasions it came up. Body doubles are a thing and so is styling, shitty dad.

I *love* it when the main characters of books have a deep dark secret that they actively avoid thinking about in detail so that they can string the reader along. 🙄

This is literally the plot of a thriller and Colleen doesn’t seem to realize that. How many times we have seen the plot twist that the husband/boyfriend turned out to be the bad guy?

Oh man I still haven't recovered from watching KrimsonRouge's review. Also (SPOILER) gotta love how the ML, who’s directly responsible for the FL's burns and her resulting trauma, inner monolgues about how it's a shame she covers up her body so much and she ought to wear sexier clothes.

The way my mother would have beaten my ass for taking him back after the reveal. She’d be like did I teach you nothing!?!?

I’m a skateboarder but “Hardflip into horror” sounds like a banger skateboard horror film haha

Jokes on me because I already suffered through it. I hate that so many romanticize this toxic and abusive relationship, just because he doesn’t physically hit her doesn’t mean it’s not abusive. Ben is a walking red flag and that people make him out to be the victim and basically guilt Fallon to take him back even though he had done nothing to earn her forgiveness is so annoying. I just hate this book with such a passion.

Everything I learn about Colleen Hoover and her novels is baffling, including her decision to name her female protagonist Fallon. I’m only picturing Jimmy Fallon this whole time and I can’t be the only one.

Books like these are so concerning because young people read them and then romanticize toxic relationships because toxicity=drama = passion. It's dangerous. Normalize picking the "boring" relationship!

It shows how normalised these kind of creepy behaviors are that women write books about it and its seen as romantic. It is the deep seated internalised mysogny that women have grown up with, that its seen as passionate, sexy and romantic. There are a lot of female authors write this kind of trash. Its so sad.

Someone should make Sam Levinson and The Weeknd adapt Colleen Hoover books starring Boogie2988 as a main character.

I already watched an over 3 hour video about this book and I’ll happily watch Amanda now talk about this book for another 36 minutes.

I just immediately knew the twist was gonna be that he set the fire. It's just right up Colleen's alley. Literally every time I get asked if we have Colleen Hoover books at my work, I just start side eyeing whatever customer asked because I cannot imagine why anyone reads this toxic trash lol

I love nothing more than deep dives roasting Colleen Hoover books for how awful they are. Let’s go besties.

The more I hear about Colleen Hoover and her works, the better I feel for not being on TikTok. EDIT: Excellent use of _Before Sunrise_ clips, by the way!

Colleen Hoover is one of TikTok’s most detrimental mistakes to humanity

I enjoy reading a lot of messed up “romance” books but there’s something about Colleen Hoover’s work from what I heard about it puts me off. It’s a bit weird because I’ve read and loved books where the main characters are more toxic or more outright abusive than the couples in the Colleen Hoover books I’ve heard about. It could just be that the books I like with those themes outright show how toxic these couples are instead of pretending they’re perfectly healthy.

I swear, there's not a single normal, non-abusive ML in any of Colleens books. I really don't see the appeal. Like, I understand that she probably wants exciting and interesting romance novels. But you have to at least *consider* what your story is implying, right? What it might normalize or even romanticize.

ive essentially developed a rule regarding two things when it comes to tiktok 1) dont trust any recommendations regarding horror movies 2) dont trust any book recommendations, especially and specifically romance or fantasy

So she's not allowed to be traumatized by the fire, she's not allowed to struggle to accept her scars and she's not allowed to be mad at her father, let alone the person who started the fire in the first place. Great message.

A Jedi must be brave, and you have proven it!

Every single one of her books had a toxic romance with an abusive male lead. It's horrifying that so many young women today view this as "romance" when this is straight out of the horror genre! He burned down her house too; that man needs to be jailed!

I read It Ends With Us and wanted to put my head through a wall. Thank you for reading these awful books so i don't have to.

The statute of limitations on arson in California is, if I remember right, about six years, meaning Fallon finds out he started the fire a year too late to press charges. You’re damn right I looked it up.

CoHo writes bad trauma porn. Choosing a "worst one" is truly like Sophie's Choice. I forgot that she uses ellipses almost as much as Sarah J Maas does. 😂 Coincidence?! I don't think so. 😏It's one of the hallmarks of poor, lazy writing. And they both graduated from that writing school. 😉🤣

I like the way your videos are edited a lot. But when movie scenes are used to illustrate what's happening in the book, it would be cool to have the source indicated somewhere on the screen. During the first few scenes I legit thought they were part of an official movie adaptation of this book. Rock on :D

ive thought of an alternative name for the book, "Gaslighting: How women should think and behave in a patriarchy"

The worst Colleen Hoover book? You mean… all of them?

I'm biting my lip in anticipation of what the significance of the date in the title might be, but I also know that Amanda will see us through

If you think this is a wild read, Colleen Hoover went completely unhinged with Verity.

Her books have never been romance, they've always been horror. I haven't read anything of hers since she traumatized me with Hopeless a decade ago.

14:22 Back in college, I had a tumor that only 1% of the population ever gets - it's super rare and super random. It was benign, but by its sheer size it was about to kill me so I had to have emergency surgery. And because it was so big, they had to essentially give me a c-section to get it out. I was so insecure about the scar - it was big and made my stomach look weird, it was just really ugly and I hated it. So I was very nervous about letting my first boyfriend following the surgery (now my husband) see it. But he was so gentle and sweet about it - he told me the scar is beautiful because it saved my life. He didn't try to invalidate my feelings about it, he just tried to help me see the scar differently - to change my perspective about it - and let me know that he doesn't see me any differently or think I'm any less beautiful because of it. Now *that* is how you support your loved one when they feel insecure about traumatic scars.

As someone with self harm scars I felt myself crying so hard when you were talking about the way he talked about her scars. Though definitely not the same, the one thing I want in someone is to look at me like I don’t have any scars. Not necessarily like they don’t exist, but just not different to anyone else. So him hammering at how her scars are some beautiful life affirming thing makes my stomach turn.

Normalizing boundary violation: Check Normalizing non-consensual sexual advancements: Check Yeah, definitely a classic "Modern Erotic Fantasy for Women" genre.

I honestly can't stand her. As someone who has experienced abusive relationships, I don't understand romanticizing them. I've read two of her books and I just can't even. She just craps these out constantly.

fourth degree burns are down to the bone if Fallon had fourth degree burns on her face she'd look like The Dark Knight's Two-Face why do I get the feeling Colleen does less research for her books than Stephenie Meyer

Let's count here. He: scared her for life, both mentally and physically, sexualized her scars, insulted her on the way she deals with her trauma, THAT HE caused . Lied to her, used her for his books. In the original he assaulted her, but the author cut that out on newer books. Committed a crime and never got the punishment, ruined her career. And she apologized to him?? Boy, i dont give a f that your mom died, your whole family could have committed su'cid in front of you and that still wouldn't justifie anything you did.

The only disappointment is that this review wasn't also posted on November 9. Would've really tied it all together nicely.

I feel like "ew come on, a woman wrote this???" Sums up how I feel about every excerpt I've ever read from a Colleen Hoover book lmao

I remember seeing a review where a person said Collen Hoover writes her books like they are supposed to be thrillers and then realizes it has to be romance and puts that in last second

yeah, the romance is often shitty in these books, but a personal issue I have with her books is how terribly she treats physically, or mentally ill characters. For instance, many people with fourth degree burns are often in unimaginable pain LONG after the incident caused it. It won't just be scarring.

I'm so stressed just by listening to Amanda describe the sequence of events that takes place in this excuse of a book

Okay.. but the line "Your hands touch someone who isn't me. Your lips make promises against anin that isn't mine." goes HARD! Sounds like an early Silverstein line hahah

After finding out that It Ends With Us is based on her parents relationship explains a lot why she romanticized and normalized toxic and abusive relationship in her books

RU-vidrs who do deep dives on Colleen Hoover books are my heroes. Not only do they put themselves through that torture, they have saved me from ever making thr mistake of picking up one of her books. And I thank them for that.

I write 1930’s mafia noir, researched shit where trauma and abuse isn’t treated like fun and games and the victim’s fault, and there’s zero chance my books will make many sales because shit like Colleen Hoover’s keeps romanticizing abuse. Pisses me off so much and makes me want to give up sometimes.

"Jesus, Fallon, you're so wet," said Colbert.

The speed with which my head whipped around when she said "Benjamin." Man, that childhood training of only hearing your full name - even only full first name - when in trouble runs deeeeeeep. Also, big ol' YIKES to this book. Seems like every time I hear about some new booktok book (typically here), there's only like a 1 in 4 chance that it's not super messed up somehow.

29:58 I KNEW IT!! I FRIGGIN KNEW IT!! I will never read this book so thank you for your sacrifice, Amanda, but omfg how she describes him avoiding the topic and then how it might not have been an accident that he ever bumped into Fallon and her dad, I had a feeling it was because his secret was the fire!

Im about 10 minutes into the video but i find it *hysterical* that Ben hits EVERY SINGLE POINT FOR RED FLAGS when he talked to her for the first time, but the whole novel is about *Fallon forgiving him*

This date is my birthday, i feel attacked. Not by you, but by this lady writing this book.

Why???? 😭 There's A Difference Between SOCIOPATHY And COMPLEXITY!!! Theres a difference between empathy/forgiveness, and being gaslit into accepting the unacceptable. Where is the romance in this??? This is a psychological horror with a bad ending. Gross! Icky! I spit upon this genre listing

You need to read Hopeless. It’s the most dark/insane book she’s written that NO ONE mentions. I read it in 2014 back when I discovered her. I read several of her books pre book tok explosion and that one has never left my brain. You would do it justice!!

No that one is far from the worst. It's bad but not the worst. Spoiler for colleen hoover book: . . . She finds justification to murder twice!^ In one the woman was " crazy" ex who pretended to be paralyzed. Even though he could have reported her to the police. Instead they make her sufficed from her own vomit. Another time, he chained her on the bed, was ready to drug prior, manipulated her and used her body, Turned out his girlfriend died and her body got Possest by the crazy ex. But neither the Ex nor the ghost of the girlfriend knew. And every time he goes back with her were they met the first time the girlfriend can retake control for a short time, like when goes so sleep. The male lead than falls in love with the girlfriend again, but at no point, even though he is thinking that the other woman the Ex, who usually has control is his girlfriend. He buys the place were they met, without telling her why, he tries to get her tried, even thinks about drugging here, even trying, but the girlfriend-ghost stops him, and was thinking about sleeping with her while the presumed stranger-ghost/girlfriend was inside his presumed girlfriend/ now ex. In the end they kill the ex so his girlfriend could retake the body. He chains her up on the bed, doesn't tell her what going on, and strangles her until she dies. Keep in mind this is framed as a good thing. Also, in the first story I mentioned the guy stealth booth women. The go to method of contraception was to pull it out ( it is never mentioned that this isn't a great method), But he simply doesn't sometimes. Just because h doesn't feel like to. No consequences for him, of course.

I do think that, from what I've heard, Colleen Hoover is a pretty toxic "boy mom" and that's why the boys are always let off the hook in all her stories. But that could just be hearsay too.

A dumb question that just occurred to me: does Ben not have the same last name as his mother? Otherwise, how does Fallon’s dad not immediately suspect something hinky when a boy with the same last name as the woman on whose grave he puts flowers pops up as his daughter’s boyfriend?

I totally called the "he set the fire" from the start of the video! I clearly read too much of this twisted kind of novel and am unshockable now 😅

I’ve watched like four separate reviews of November 9 and it simultaneously gets worse and better (more entertaining) each time

This author using 4th degree burns and think they would just cause some scars has the same energy as 12-year-old me writing on wattpad how my protagonist keeps absolutely 100% surviving stabbing no problem and moving just fine the next day with zero explanation

When Amanda said that if this book was about a stalker then people wouldn't romanticize it as much. I just kept thinking obviously she hasn't heard of Haunting Adeline

This reeks of the emotional double standard that leading men have their reasons for any number of incredibly stupid and harmful things (bonus points for managing to both slut shame and kill his mom before painting her as posthumously negligent in his firebug ways). Meanwhile, women and girls in those same books are expected and encouraged to grow through forgiveness by playing detective about the hidden pain of the men who lied to them and hurt them. Because it's always a woman's fault for making a man feel uncomfortable emotions he won't work on coping with in healthy ways. Thanks for the video, and please read something you like to erase this from your mind.

If someone tells me they want to be my last, my immediate thought is "oh...so this is how I die" 🙃

When I read college hoover I ask myself "who hurt you?"😂

I know I follow good creators when they all trash Colleen Hoover. BookTube trashed her years ago for her terrible writing. It was Tiktok that brought back. Justice for Caleb, he was 16 when CoHo. The terrible woman that she is, tried to online bully him about the consent in her books. We will never forgive you, Also her writing gives, If Salt was a Spice

You are much braver than I am… or maybe the right way to put it is more masochistic? I appreciate your sacrifices and I salute you

CoHo is not romance and so many of her stories are toxic but people do say they are bingeable

Amanda is a better person than me, I read precisely 0 CoHo books before deciding to dislike her. From all the excerpts I've heard so far she just gives the vibes of a woman who would brush off her daughter's SA claims as 'being dramatic'.

im so happy to see you read this, since i watched the Alizee video I've wanted to know your opinion on it, ok I'll be back when i finish the video edit: okay yeah no, Colleen absolutely has a personal connection to the idea of being destroyed and rescued by the same person. it comes up so often across her works but this one is egregious. she seems to have this idea in her head that the most romantic thing that can happen to a person is coercion, both physical and emotional. she loves a man who thinks highly of himself and thinks of a woman sexually first and caringly second, and she loves a woman who needs a man. it's like she read a skeleton explanation of BDSM dynamics and the concept of aftercare and decided it was those were the fundamentals of all aspects of romantic relationships.

Not Amanda buying a physical copy of the book just to throw it. 😂 That's commitment. 👏🏾

My only exposure to Colleen Hoover has been through Alizee, so I am interested to see another opinion.

How do you fit in watching movies, reading books, making videos?? Been watching for years and am always so impressed by how some people can accomplish so much so quickly!! ^_^

“THE guy” who, despite having been around many blocks, puts female virginity on some creepy, pseudo-Christian ownershippy pedestal (but every subsequent sexual encounter is valueless) fucked me up for probably an entire decade. I have not read this book and now I really never want to.

Nov 9 feels like Colleen got the urge to write a thriller halfway through a romance.

oh, I bet your reaction to this will be fantastic 😈I feel so bad that we have foisted this on you… 😂😂😂

The random footage is so good. Billy Ray? Excellent.

Everytime Amanda says Benjamin instead of Benton I howled. 😂😂😂

I’m here making my best Janice from Friends impression on every fucked up thing this guy did “Oh my GOD!!!!!”

"what in the nice guy fanfiction is this" is one of my favorite lines ever

I think this kind of story points out something worse than the books themselves: that's what editors and publishers ask from authors, because there's a huge market for toxic masculinity. That's the true horror, at least in my own small experience as an online writer with a couple of awards under my belt. However, I have a lot of readers who literally THANK me for not writing that kind of toxic cliché. So it's the egg and the chicken quandary. This kind of sh*t sells, so editors ask for more, so everybody writes this genre and it eventually becomes the top-selling one.

She would have 3rd degree burns at most to only be worried about scars. I once had really bad 2nd degree burns across one of my thighs and a bit on my other, which scarred and only fully faded years later, so I assume it would be more common with 3rd degree burns to stay way longer. But 4th degree? That exposes bone. There would be no skin to scar at that point afaik.

My tinfoil hat theory is that Colleen has been popularised by late bloomers who didn't go through a wattpad phase.

Just bringing this up because im reading it rn but have you read Gideon the Ninth? Its about lesbian space necromancers and i adore it, figured you / anyone else in the comments might as well

Colleen Hoover is one of those authors where I legitimately question whether they are even capable of writing a book where the character dynamics are not skin-crawlingly foul. Her attitudes in her books are either a cynical exploitation of people's well-documented thirst for toxic romance fantasies, or a sign that she's a messed-up person with messed-up ideas. I also want to know if Booktok has EVER latched onto a book or author that doesn't suck. It feels like every time I find out they're wild about a book or author, it is at BEST of terrible quality. And as the final indignity, the poetry she wrote for Benton makes me want to drink like Dylan Thomas. It is very, very bad.